Public Service Broadcasting

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) defends public service values in broadcasting. We promote public service values, editorial independence, quality programmes and democratic and accountable systems of administration. The EFJ is a member of the social dialogue in the audiovisual sector of the European Union.

As with other sectors, broadcasting journalists continue to face severe problems for their future. Redundancies are occurring in both public and commercial broadcasting organisations, pension funds are in crisis, and employers are, in many cases, forcing changes in working practices, changes in agreements on pay and conditions, and demanding that workers should take on additional duties and skills. It’s not just employers reducing employment standards; there is a rise in political interference

The EFJ builds union solidarity. It co-ordinates discussions with unions, international organisations and other global groups dealing with media. This action programme should lead to the preservation and expansion of broadcasting of high standards and integrity.

On 1st and 2nd February, the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) and the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) had a series of meetings with members of the European Parliament to discuss the urgency of supporting public service media and independent journalism in the accession countries. The lack of financial independence, outdated technologies as well as increasing political control, not only in Hungary and Poland but in all accession countries affects the compatibility of public media outlets. Out of all Balkan countries only Serbia and Macedonia fully digitalised their production, although they still have most of their products in analogue format. The…

Four months before the next general elections in Albania, the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) has received alerting information regarding new regulations affecting media freedom situation in the country. The EFJ has been informed that new amendments proposals have been tabled by the ruling Socialist Party to the Article 78/7 of the Election Code and if adopted would seriously damage online media freedom in the country and potentially legalize censorship in Albania. The proposed amendments ambiguously target “uncontrolled and unregistered news websites” and “mandates state authorities to close them down if they engage in election propaganda or conduct unauthorized opinion…

The future of the Ukrainian broadcasting company “Radio Vesti” is uncertain after the National Council for Television and Radio Broadcasting of Ukraine delays the prolongation of their licenses in Kiev and Kharkov. The company sent the required documents on time in order to renew the licenses, which will expire on February 13 and 19, 2017 respectively. Nonetheless, the National Council isn’t certain on prolongation of the licenses due to the beneficiary issues. Officially the beneficiaries of the broadcasting company are Denis Mozgovoy from Avdeevka and Tatiana Alexandrova from Donetsk, however, the National Council believes that the information is not clear…

On 12 January, the National Radio and TV Council (NRTC) of Ukraine voted unanimously to cease the retransmission of the Russian TV Channel Dozhd (Rain), following TV reports showing Crimea as part of Russia. The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) joins today the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Dunja Mijatović in condemning this decision, which will have harmful consequences for media pluralism in Ukraine. Decision of @NacRada to stop broadcasting @tvrain DozhdTV very demaging for media pluralism in #Ukraine https://t.co/cdT4mmMLna @OSCE_RFoM — Dunja Mijatovic (@Dunja_Mijatovic) January 12, 2017 According to a press release posted on the council’s website,…

The Journalists’ Trade Union of Azerbaijan published a report on social conditions of journalists in the country in 2016. Overall 51 media outlets took part in the survey, among them national newspapers, information agencies, news portals and TV channels. One of the big issues stated in the report was the lack of individual labour contracts in Azerbaijan. The media companies prefer to sign short-period contracts, in the best cases 60% of employees had labour contracts, whereas 40-45% had no legally binding documents and relied on verbal agreements. The application of health insurance is extremely low (less than 5% ). The…

The Council of Europe (CoE) and the European Network of National Human Rights Institutions (ENNHRI) organised on 15 December in Strasbourg a high level seminar as a follow-up activity to the CoE Secretary General’s report on the State of democracy, human rights and the rule of law in Europe 2015. The EFJ was represented by its president. In his report, the Secretary General of the CoE, Thorbjørn Jagland, proposed a two-year Europe-wide programme to support national mechanisms to protect journalists, such as ombudsman institutions, press commissioners and non-governmental organisations. The programme pursues several goals: to strengthen the capacities of such…